rethinkchronicles

Chief Executive Magazine asked a cross-section of of CEOs to write about their outlook for the coming year. Editor J.P. Donlon said he was struck by their twin concerns about rising government spending and increasing taxes and regulations, as well as the effect both would have on what they regard as a fragile economic recovery.

Donlon observed, “If the sentiment we tapped is any guide, more business leaders are sensing that what’s at stake here is not just a routine post-recession recovery but the ability of our economic system to grow and generate jobs for everybody.”

It is Donlon’s opinion that “As frightening as healthcare reform and cap and trade are, the truly scary issue is runaway entitlement spending for the simple reason that our incomes are not growing as fast as our spending. The ‘economic stimulus’ debt alone will cost every citizen $280 a month for the rest of their lives.”

One of the CEOs who responded to the magazine, Patrick Byrne, Founder and CEO of Overstock.com, wrote: “The problem is that the U.S. is hopelessly fiscally profligate We’re living in dreamland as an economy. We’re rapidly approaching the point where we can’t possibly deal with the debt.”

Bob Murray, President and CEO of Murray Energy, a $1.3 billion coal producer, fumed “Excessive regulation and runaway government spending is going to lead to drastic inflation and the destruction of our children’s future.” His solution, “Throw out the Democratic leadership of the House and Senate, then the Obama administration.”

Another highly respected CEO, Peter G. Peterson, former Commerce Secretary and co-founder of the Blackstone Group, editorialized in Business Week that “It’s time to get off our butts, cure ourselves of an aggravated case of short-term-itis, and create a movement that makes it safe for our politicians to opt for the hard choices and unsafe for them to continue to do nothing–to deny the undeniable and pretend we can sustain the unsustainable.”